A guy more valuable to Phils than Machado?

J.T. Realmuto of the Marlins throws towards first base during the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park on July 15, 2018. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)

There were a lot of risks in acquiring Manny Machado. Of course, there was a huge upside as well. What if the Phillies could get a guy with a huge upside and a lot fewer risks that plays a position that the Phillies could desperately use an upgrade?

Look south. Deep south; like tip of the country south. Miami. J.T. Realmuto.

The Marlins have said that they don’t want to trade their starting catcher because they were looking to sign him to an extension. Well, they reportedly haven’t said word one to him about an extension and the trade deadline has dropped under the 10-days left mark.

Realmuto is the real deal. He’s hitting 12-45-.312/.366/.535 this season and in his career is batting 50-214-.285/.329/.445 in 486 major league games coming into Sunday. He’s also a better defensive catcher than either Jorge Alfaro or Andrew Knapp and has thrown out a higher percentage of base stealers than has Alfaro.

While Realmuto doesn’t give you the power that Manny Machado would have, he’s not an offensive slouch. In five seasons, Realmuto’s stats for a 162-game average come out to 17-71-.285/.329/.445 while Machado over seven seasons averages 30-89-.283/.335/.486 for every 162 games. While the power numbers are much lower, Realmuto is comparable in on-base percentage and isn’t too far off in slugging percentage.

The risk is lower because while Machado is a free agent at the end of the season, Realmuto has two more seasons of salary arbitration before he can become a free agent following the 2020 season.

If you need a reason to go after Realmuto, consider that division rival Washington has been sniffing pretty heavily around the Marlins and might take a shot at bringing him to the nation’s capital.

What a trade would look like…

There isn’t a catcher to be found among the top 10 Marlins prospects. There are three outfielders, a middle infielder, a third baseman, three right-handers and two left-handers. That means that Miami would likely want a catcher in exchange. Jorge Alfaro, Andrew Knapp, Deivi Grullon; take your pick.

It’s likely that they would want either top Phillies pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez or number-two Adonis Medina and likely another slightly lesser starting pitching prospect like Franklyn Kilome or Drew Anderson. Try to steer them away from Sanchez but if you absolutely have to, put him in the deal. Also try to steer them away from Cole Irvin and Enyel De Los Santos but if they take Sanchez out you might have to include one of them. That would hurt but this is a quality catcher under team control for at least another three seasons after this one.

That is a ton to give up but look at it this way. The Phillies would still have Sanchez, either Irvin or De Los Santos, Ranger Suarez and a couple other pitching prospects who are pretty solid. You’ve got a catcher for the foreseeable future with at least a few seasons to develop or trade for a down-the-road catcher. And with Cesar Hernandez, Scott Kingery and J.P. Crawford all in the mix, you should have a middle infield combo for the foreseeable future so that the loss of Gamboa wouldn’t hurt too much. If they chose Pujols, you’re pretty loaded on outfielders and the Phillies are likely to go after Bryce Harper following the season and/or Mike Trout following the 2019 season.